Panama: Jump Back, What’s That Sound?

Strong Sense of Place | Travel Through Books

Melissa & Dave

Books, Arts

5.0 • 559 Ratings

🗓️ 30 August 2024

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Central American country of Panama is like a stretched-out letter S, lying on its side to soak up the sun — with the Pacific and the Caribbean snuggling up to its curves. The capital, Panama City, in the bottom arch of the S, invites you to stroll down red-brick streets lined with lush palm trees and white colonial buildings that look like layer cakes. You can stroll along the seafront and gaze out across the Pacific — and daydream about the 17th-century pirates that sailed nearby. When you’re ready for adventure, you might hike to the top of Panama’s highest mountain — Volcán Barú — to watch the sun rise over both the Atlantic and Pacific, volunteer in Cerra Hoya National Park to study jaguars, spend the night a traditional village in the jungle with the Emberá people, or kick back at an artistic island resort. Maybe it’s more your speed to spend endless days in your bathing suit, eating fresh fish just pulled from the sea, or sipping some of the world’s best coffee. Panama has all of that and more. In this episode, we get curious about the Panama Canal, discuss the relative sobriety of dwarf sloths, and get real about what it’s like to spend time in the jungle. Then we recommend five great books that took us to Panama on the page: Seducing the Spirits by Louise Young Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune by Keith Thomson Silver People: Voices From the Panama Canal by Margarita Engle Panama Fever: The Epic Story of One of the Greatest Human Achievements of All Time—the Building of the Panama Canal by Matthew Parker The World in Half by Cristina Henríquez For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes. Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world. Transcript of Panama: Jump Back, What’s That Sound? Do you enjoy our show? Do you want be friends with other (lovely) people who love books and travel? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you! Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, it's Dave.
0:01.7	And Mel.
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0:31.4	So if you're one of our dedicated listeners...
0:34.0	Hello, and thank you so much for listening.
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0:56.8	happy and grateful. We are so easy. Your ratings and subscriptions make such a difference to our
1:02.2	show's potential to keep going. So thank you. And now, on to the show. Hello, welcome to strong
1:08.7	sense of place. In each episode, we focus on one destination and discuss what makes it different than any other place on Earth.
1:16.4	Then we recommend five books we love that took us there on the page.
1:20.1	I'm Melissa Jolwan.
1:21.3	I'm David Humphreys.
1:22.7	We're going around the world, one great read at a time.
1:26.0	Thanks for joining us.
	...

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